Turbine engines are used as the primary power source for various kinds of aircrafts. The engines may also serve as auxiliary power sources that drive air compressors, hydraulic pumps, and industrial electrical power generators. Most turbine engines generally follow the same basic power generation procedure. Compressed air is mixed with fuel and burned, and the expanding hot combustion gases are directed against stationary turbine vanes in the engine. The vanes turn the high velocity gas flow partially sideways to impinge onto turbine blades mounted on a rotatable turbine disk. The force of the impinging gas causes the turbine disk to spin at high speed. Jet propulsion engines use the power created by the rotating turbine disk to draw more air into the engine, and the high velocity combustion gas is passed out of the gas turbine aft end to create forward thrust. Turbine engines are also used to drive one or more propellers, electrical generators, or other devices.
Turbine engine blades and vanes are fabricated from high temperature materials such as nickel-based and/or cobalt-based superalloys. Although nickel-based and cobalt-based superalloys have good high temperature properties and many other advantages, they are susceptible to corrosion, oxidation, thermal fatigue, and erosion damage in the harsh environment of an operating turbine engine. These limitations are problematic as there is a constant drive to increase engine operating temperatures in order to increase fuel efficiency and to reduce emission. Replacing damaged turbine engine components made from advanced nickel-based superalloys is expensive, and significant research is being performed to find cost-effective ways to repair these components.
Hence, there is a need for methods and materials for repairing turbine engine components such as the turbine blades and vanes. There is a particular need for environment-resistant repair materials that will improve a turbine engine component's durability, and for efficient and cost effective methods of repairing the components using such materials. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the inventive subject matter will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the inventive subject matter and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the inventive subject matter.